The results are in and according to cleaning managers across the US, 44% agree that the recession is over, up 5% from last year's results. However, despite this optimism, more are reporting pressure to reduce labour and other operating costs. (Ed: now where have I heard that before?)more

The market for janitorial cleaning chemicals in Europe, which until recently was seen as 'flat to declining', posted modest growth of 1.6%, according to Kline's recently published study 'Janitorial Cleaning Products in Europe: Market Analysis and Opportunities'.more

Cold Jet, a world leader in the development of innovative, environmentally responsible, dry ice cleaning and dry ice production solutions, has completed the acquisition of IceTech - and with collective global facilities including the US, Canada, Mexico, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Spain, Japan and China, the move will facilitate world-class customer support capabilities anywhere in the world.more

Dozens of contracted airport workers and allies were arrested on Monday at demonstrations in cities throughout the US, as part of a national airport workers' civil disobedience against the injustices and inequality which, says the Service Employees International Union, persist at airports across the country.more

At the Consumer Electronics Show last week, healthcare technology company, Seal Shield, attracted lots of interest with its Sky family of UVC Sanitisers, designed to kill bacteria and viruses on the hard-to-clean consumer electronics that so many of us are now using in our workplaces.more

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Racism is a thorny subject, isn’t is? I don’t know where in the world you are, but in my neck of the woods many people now shake their heads when racism is mentioned, in the same way they do when health & safety is mentioned: ‘Oh no, not that again!’ seems to be the feeling – and the consensus is that in some quarters, racism is used as an excuse for, perhaps, people not getting the promotion or pay-rise, or the best table in the restaurant, rather than because they weren’t the best person for the job, the company had budgets to consider or the table had been pre-booked by a regular. I won’t go on.

The reality is that we all have to be very careful about what we say, just in case it gets taken the wrong way.

Then on the other hand are the people who really don’t care…

Have you come across the flyer this week, advertising cleaning services in Israel?

I still can’t work out whether it’s real or if it’s been put together to elicit a reaction, but as it’s on Israeli journalist Tal Schneider’s Facebook page I suppose it must be true. I’m still struggling to understand how whoever produced it has got away with it.

The offending flyer, (pictured), advertises a menu of charges for cleaning services, based on the ethnicity of the cleaners. i.e. if you can’t afford to pay too much for your cleaning, you can choose an ethnic minority group that allegedly doesn’t produce as good a result in the time, or – if you really want to push the boat out, you can hire a harder working European cleaner for more money and a better result.

Yes – you did read that correctly!

African cleaners are charged out at 49 shekels (£8.70/hr); while Eastern European cleaners who don’t have Israeli citizenship are charged out at 52 shekels and those carrying all the necessary visas and work permits will cost 69 shekels.

The flyer also apparently refers to those that might be considered to be potential terrorists and offers ways to avoid employing them!

A company spokesperson is quoted as saying that the different rates are not illegal, and that European workers are charged out at higher rates because they’re better workers than the Africans are!

For the past four decades, Floorbrite has built a reputation as the north's largest contract cleaning and facilities management company and has recently confirmed its stand at the Manchester Cleaning Show.

The family-run-firm, which was set up in 1972 by the late Martin Wyers, now employs more than 1,200 people across the north of England and provides cleaning and facilities management for nationally recognised names such as Aldi, JD Sports, and Manchester's very own The Lowry.more

A research team from the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Engineering has achieved what is being hailed a world first by successfully converting paper waste into green cellulose aerogels that are non-toxic, biodegradable, ultralight, flexible, extremely strong and water repellent.

This material is ideal for applications such as oil spill cleaning and heat insulation as well as packaging.more

ISS A/S and Rolls-Royce, have signed a new contract whereby ISS will deliver integrated facilities services to Rolls-Royce in the Americas and Asia. The contract covers the US and Brazil (Americas) as well as Singapore, China, India and Indonesia (Asia) and the services will include facilities management & operations, cleaning, maintenance, security, catering, reception duties, office services, grounds maintenance and landscaping.more

Deb has launched its new Deb Stoko range - the broadest range of products designed specifically for occupational skincare across a variety of industries including the commercial sector.

The portfolio of Deb Stoko hand cleansers, sanitisers and after-work restore creams have been formulated to address and reduce the spread of infection as well as the risk of occupational skin disease.more

Girbau's new Smart Load technology on its latest HS Series washer extractors offers on-premise laundries even greater savings in energy, water and detergent use. Smart Load automatically adjusts water consumption and chemical dosing in accordance with load weight, fabric and chosen wash programme to save energy, water and detergent without users needing to do anything.more

Jupiter Medical Centre has bolstered patient and staff safety with two Tru-D SmartUVC robots, which deliver an automated, measured dose of UVC to consistently disinfect an entire room from a single position - ensuring 99.99% pathogen reduction in direct and shadowed areas and eliminating human error, while documenting disinfection results for each cycle.more

REACH, the new regulations governing the way in which chemicals can be packaged, sold and used in the cleaning and hygiene industry, is now in force. According to those who have been working with the new regulations, they are business critical.

In partnership with the British Association for Chemical Specialities, the Cleaning & Hygiene Suppliers Association is hosting a conference designed to explain fully, the regulations and their impact on your business.more

Air Liquide has announced the acquisition by its subsidiary Schuelke, a specialist in hygiene and hospital disinfection, of Vic Pharma, a company operating in this sector in Brazil.

Founded in 1990, Vic Pharma has more than 100 employees and is the second largest independent player in the Brazilian hygiene market. It offers a broad range of hygiene products for disinfecting surfaces, instruments and medical devices, as well as antiseptic solutions for pre- or post-operative care.more

The organisers of ISSA/Interclean Amsterdam have published details of the ISSA Educational Seminar programme at the event, which takes place 10th - 13th May 2016 and is expected to attract over 30,000 attendees from over 130 countries.more

This new process can be used to clean weathered plastic seating in stadia, industrial products such as machinery, process equipment and conveyor belts. Cryoclean snow+ is also useful in the new, fast-growing additive manufacturing sector, where it can be used to remove oxides from the surfaces of a number of materials, including steels and aluminium, and to clean polymers.more

The City of New Orleans Department of Sanitation and JOB1, held a pre-Mardi Gras job fair to recruit 150 temporary employees who would clean the city both during and after the 2016 festival, which has just taken place.

Those attending the job fair were also given information about a limited number of full time, permanent employment opportunities with the City's Department of Sanitation.more

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Around 60 people - members, potential members, the press and guests from the cleaning industry - gathered in London on Monday for an event that has been hailed a resounding success: the official relaunch of the Cleaning & Support Services Association, 50 years after its initial 'official' launch in 1966.

And while many things about association membership haven't changed, such as the opportunities for networking and friendship it provides, the ability for the industry to speak with one voice and address industry issues collectively rather than as individual companies (i.e. from a position of strength) there are a great many new things planned. more

The Manchester Cleaning Show (6th - 7th April at Event City) is a launch event for 2016 and follows the same exhibition and free conference format of its parent Cleaning Show held in London every two years. The reception to the new, northern spin-off has been remarkable with over 1,000 people registered to attend with just weeks to go.more

The new ST4000 from Steam Clean Systems is reckoned by its makers to be the most powerful boiler-powered dry steam cleaner in Europe. Its mighty 14 litre boiler delivers a massive 42Kg of steam per hour at a pressure of 10bar...more

ISSA and The Building Futures Group have reached agreement to immediately transfer the Industrial Cleaning Machinery Manufacturers Association's (ICMMA) operational management to ISSA's UK membership portfolio, with continued oversight by the group's Secretariat, Hazel Langley.more

As from last Monday, Crown Courts and Magistrates Courts in England and Wales have been bound by tough new guidelines when sentencing those who have been convicted of breaking health & safety law. For the first time, courts in England and Wales are required to follow comprehensive sentencing guidelines.

Neal Stone, policy & standards director at the British Safety Council, says of the changes: "We broadly welcome the new guidelines and in particular that in future, three factors will be key in determining fines for health & safety offences: the degree of harm caused, the culpability of the offender, and the turnover of the offending organisation.more

Jeremy Paxman, speaking in Solihull at the FPA annual Environment Seminar, set the tone for the litter agenda in 2016 by calling on the whole supply chain to take action to tackle the UK's litter crisis or face legislative action.

The ex-BBC Newsnight anchor, speaking in his capacity as patron of the litter campaigning organisation Clean Up Britain (CLUB) said that the UK is at a tipping point in attitudes to litter and that businesses need to collaborate to take action and tackle the problem.more

V-Air Solid, an environmentally-friendly, non-aerosol air freshener from Vectair Systems, has won the 'Best Innovation Award' in the Washroom Hygiene category in the 2016 Clean India Awards - its fourth award since its launch a year ago.

A panel of eight judges, including purchasing director of Reliance Industries & executive housekeeper of the Intercontinental Hotels Group, chose V-Air Solid as the most innovative product for its simplicity, use of new technology and its strong environmental credentials, amongst other factors. more

A few years ago, I wrote an analysis of the facilities management sector as a whole and at that stage my feelings were that the market was still clearly separated into two distinct areas: in-house (corporate management) and outsourced (third party). In my view, the FM market is much more blurred in certain respects and, as such, success requires an ever increasingly diverse range of skills, education and attributes.more

Carrying more than one million passengers and 200,000 passenger vehicles annually, Poole-based Condor Ferries operates a year-round service connecting the UK, the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey and the ports of St Malo and Cherbourg in France.

Mike Mustill, hotel services operations manager, Condor Ferries, called in Kevin Day at Prochem Europe distributor CJS Portsmouth to find a more robust, powerful and faster clean than they were currently achieving.more

The Health & Safety Laboratory's new Machinery Directive course is being held on 24th February 2016 in Buxton, Derbyshire. It will give delegates a thorough understanding of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2009 legislation, (as revised) as well as the key current European and International safety standards that support the Regulations.

Delegates will also be shown how to build a technical file and have the opportunity to practice assessing conformity to the essential health & safety requirements. The purpose and content of a declaration of conformity and incorporation will be explained, along with when to use which.more

Ken Wainwright, of the National Carpet Cleaners Association, writes...

"Murphy's Law states that if anything is to go wrong, then it will happen at the most inconvenient time. It also states that when this happens it will usually be mega expensive and the inconvenience will last for days, if not weeks.

For us carpet cleaners, one of the things that we dread most is a machine breakdown, and this was brought home to me last month when my portable extraction machine had its annual service at the manufacturer's works.more

Clean for The Queen is a campaign designed to encourage those of us who live in the UK to clear up Britain in time for The Queen's 90th birthday on 21st April 2016. It will rally an army of volunteers across the country to clean up their local areas and will include a special clean-up weekend on 4th - 6th March.more

The first Occupational and Environmental Exposure of Skin to Chemicals Conference took place in Washington in 2002. Since then it has occurred every two - three years and has become the premier platform for exchange of new scientific discoveries and practical ideas from all parts of the globe.more

SkyVac, the UK manufacturer of the most powerful high level cleaning equipment, reports that sales are flying high. SkyVac systems have now been adopted for high level cleaning at the UK's largest airports - Gatwick and Heathrow - and equipment orders are arriving from all over the world.more

Although unlike some food establishments those in the city of Oxford are faring rather well, with 86% of establishments boasting a hygiene standard rating of at least four out of five, Ian Wright, Oxford City Council's head of environmental health services, is calling for greater improvements to be made.more